Terry Doyle clearly impressed more than the White Sox with his strong 2011 Arizona Fall League showing.

The right-hander was selected by Minnesota with the second pick in Thursday morning’s Rule 5 Draft, after posting a 4-0 record with a 1.98 ERA over eight starts for the Mesa Solar Sox. Doyle had an 8-10 mark with a 3.07 ERA in 2011, combined numbers between stops at Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham, while striking out 122 and walking just 33 in 173 innings. …

“The separator for us was command,” vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff said. “We saw him in the AFL thoroughly, and he kind of dominated out there (4-0, 1.98). We had a lot of history with him, good report from him in college. The durability was another strong point.

“We had some concerns in the past where his fastball velocity was marginal. It’s hard to judge that in Arizona, for a variety of reasons, but we saw average velocity this year, which was important. His command is good, his makeup is good, and we think he’s got the ability to be a fourth or fifth starter.”

Doyle is a righthander with guile who lacks a plus pitch but knows how to set up hitters. He helped his chances of being picked with an excellent Arizona Fall League performance. He certainly understands the geometry of pitching, consistently getting outs with his command and a cut fastball. Doyle’s 88-92 fastball did pick up as the season progressed and he touched 93-94 mph in Arizona. Doyle confuses hitters who don’t know him, as he often pitches backward, using breaking pitches to set up his fastball. He throws four pitches for strikes, including a biting slider and a high-70s changeup.